In the first top-10 matchup held at the Crisler Center in program history, No. 6 Michigan entered an arena ready for the historic matchup. One game behind No. 5 Indiana in the Big Ten rankings, the Wolverines needed a victory to take the top spot.
And for 40 minutes on Monday, Michigan showed why it deserved that spot. Launching out to an early 9-0 lead, only its own miscues and mistakes would give the Hoosiers any hope of a comeback. A 14-2 run between the end of the first and beginning of the second quarter put Indiana on level terms at 21 points, thanks to five turnovers in the four minutes the run spanned. But after less than a minute of being tied, the Wolverines retook the lead and never let go.
“Knowing that this Indiana team is tough, they weren’t going to go away,” senior forward Naz Hillmon said. “We had to keep punching otherwise they were going to punch us, so it was a matter of who punched the hardest and for the longest amount of time but just knowing that this wasn’t a team that’ll roll over.”
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